The Japanese F1 Grand Prix is set to take place at the Suzuka Circuit on 13 October 2013. The race covers a distance of 307.471 km in 53 laps. The lap record of 1:31.540 was set by Kimi Raikkonen in 2005. For more information visit formula1.com

Formula One driver Timo Glock was born on 18 March 1982 in Lindenfels, Germany. He began karting in 1998 and won various championships. By 2000 he was competing in the BMW ADAC Formula Junior Cup, which he won. Then in 2001 Glock took the Formula BMW ADAC Championship title.

Timo Glock moved to competing in the German Formula Three championship in 2002. That year he came in third place overall. The following year he came fifth in the Formula Three Euroseries, after three race wins and three other podium finishes. In 2004 Glock made the move to Formula One racing, where he competed in a few races for Jordan Grand Prix. He managed to score two points during his debut race, the Canadian Grand Prix.

2005 saw Timo Glock heading to the United States to take part in the Champ Car World Series as part of the Rocketsports team. He ended the season in 8th position and was awarded the Champ Car World Series’ Rookie of the Year. Glock decided to give the GP2 Series a go in 2006, and finished the season fourth in the standings, with two wins. That same year he began testing for BMW Sauber’s F1 team and was signed up to be the second test driver for the 2007 season. In 2007, as well as testing for BMW Sauber, Glock won the GP2 Series after 5 victories.

A talented driver, Timo Glock, was signed on by Toyota for the 2008 Formula One season. He certainly impressed in his first season, gaining second place in Hungary, ending the season with 25 points and coming in tenth in the standings. The 2009 season started off reasonably well for Glock and he was able to come in third in Malaysia and second in Singapore. An accident during a qualifying round in Suzuka, resulted in cracked vertebrae and Glock was unable to complete the season.

With Toyota pulling out of Formula One by the end of 2009, Timo Glock’s future in F1 racing was uncertain. Fortunately he was signed on by Manor Grand Prix (now Virgin Racing) for the 2010 season.

The Japanese Grand Prix is synonymous with the words, excitement, thrilling and controversy. Since it hosted its first Formula One Japan has frequently been at the end of the season, and has been the scene of joy and heartbreak for years. The Japanese Grand Prix has seen many Championship crowns won and has seen many of them lost. So, with being the last race of the season, and an extremely challenging and nail biting circuit, the Suzuka Circuit has been host to a number of Championship decider races and seen title destinies fulfilled. The Suzuka Circuit, host of the Japanese Grand Prix, is completed in 53 laps and is a total race length of 307.57 kilometers.

Approximately forty miles outside Yokohama, lies the Fuji Speedway – the venue that hosted the very first Formula One Japanese Grand Prix, in the year 1976. The decider between legendary drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt, shot this event to fame. Lauda had experienced a near fatal accident earlier in the racing season at the German Grand Prix. The track was overwhelmed by monsoon conditions, and Lauda chose to withdraw from the race. Hunt needed to take third position in order to win the championship, which he did. Hunt also won the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix. During the race Ronnie Peterson and Gilles Villeneuve collided with each other, which caused Villeneuve’s Ferrari to be thrown into a somersault that resulted in the death of a marshal. Formula One would not have the Japanese Grand Prix on their racing schedule, for the following decade.

In 1987, the Formula One races returned to Japan, but this time, the venue was at Suzuka Circuit, located to the south west of Nagoya. Honda owned the track that was designed by John Hugenholtz, and was constructed inside a funfair. Honda used the Suzuka Circuit as a test track. It is also the only track on the Formula One circuit that is designed in a figure eight. And with the return of the Grand Prix, Suzuka did not disappoint. Nigel Mansell was set to win the Championship, but he unfortunately crashed his Williams-Honda, and Nelson Piquet, Mansell’s teammate, walked away with the championship. But amongst the different events, it is the feud that took place between legendary drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost that will forever be etched into the history of the Japanese Grand Prix. The year was 1989, and Ayrton Senna was trying to overtake Prost. He needed to pass Prost if he was going to win the Championship. This risky move had Prost swerving into Senna, and both drivers out of the race. Alain Prost won the Championship. In 1990, Ayrton Senna repaid Prost by bumping him off the track, and winning his World Crown.

Suzuka was home to the nail-biting duels between Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher, as well as being the scene of Schumacher’s first World Title, won for Ferrari. Due to the typhoon that was experienced in 2005, the FIA announced on 24 March 2006, that all future Japanese Grand Prix’s, will be held at the Fuji Speedway which had been redesigned by Hermann Tilke. Reportedly this news was not welcomed by drivers who counted Suzuka as one of their favorite tracks. In September 2007 it was announced that, beginning in 2009, the F1 Grand Prix would alternate between the two tracks.

The 2009 Japanese Grand Prix saw Lewis Hamilton take the victory in heavy rain. Second place was claimed by Heikki Kovalainen, with Kimi Räikkönen coming in third, making it the first time in F1 history that two Finnish drivers stood on the podium together. The 2008 Japanese Grand Prix was won by Fernando Alonso, with the 2009 victory going to Sebastian Vettel. The 2010 F1 Grand Prix will take place at Suzuka on 8-10 October, with spectators and drivers looking forward to seeing the action on one of the F1 Championship’s favorite tracks.

Located close to Shiroka, Japan and east of Osaka, the Suzuka Speedway offers an entertaining and challenging course. Originally called Motor Sportsland (but re-named shortly after it opened), the Suzuka Speedway is built near Suzuka City in Japan, on land previously used by rice farmers. Suzuka offers a balance of curves and speed where the driver must be able to keep their speed under control so as not to overshoot into the two critical curves on the track, most notably the “Spoon Curve”. Traffic can be tight at the beginning, bringing drivers into quite a few possible collision scenarios.

With six total curves, and a length of almost 6 kilometers, the Suzuka Speedway is well-regarded as one of the best racetracks in the world, with several unique features. It is a figure-eight design with a multitude of fast and slow corners, including the aptly named Spoon Curve, the now much slower 130R corner, and Degner corner.

The Suzuka Speedway is the host of the Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix and one of the oldest and most-famous motorsport race tracks in Japan.

Designed as a test track in 1962 by John Hugenholtz, Suzuka Speedway is a unique circuit. Naturally, the track doesn’t actually intersect with itself on its figure-8 layout; instead, the back straight passes over the front section by means of an overpass. Due to its unique layout, Suzuka is a massive test of driver skill and is easily one of the most difficult racing circuits in the world. Nevertheless, the track is loved by drivers and spectators alike for its challenging design and many opportunities for overtaking.

Safety has been a concern at the circuit’s 130R, a 130-meter radius turn starting past the Crossover, following two tragic accidents in 2002 and 2003. Track officials revised the 130R, which has been compared to Spa’s Eau Rouge, redesigning it as a double-apex section, one with an 85 meter radius, and then a second featuring a 340-meter radius, leading to a much closer Casio Triangle (chicane).

During the Suzuka Speedway’s first major event since the revisions during the 2003 MotoGP Grand Prix of Japan, MotoGP rider Daijiro Kato was killed when he crashed in the new section headed to the braking zone for the Casio Triangle. (MotoGP has not returned to Suzuka since the incident).

Other than the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, the Suzuka Speedway also hosts the Suzuka 1000km endurance race. NASCAR organized a pair of exhibition 100-lap races on the East Circuit, a 1.4 mile layout which utilizes the pit straight and esses, before rejoining the main circuit near the Casio Triangle. The cars were Winston Cup and Winston West Series cars and the field was by invitation for the two races, run after the 1996 and 1997 seasons.

Today, the Suzuka Speedway stands as one of the most unique racetracks in the world. There is an adjoining amusement park, shopping mall, museum, several hotels, a motocross track and even a bowling alley within the circuit or next to it. Moriwaki and a slew of other Japanese hot-rod firms are located across the street from the main parking lot.